Trouble with the Curve
by Nach0 Chee5e
Summary: Modern High School AU with no bending. Korra is the top softball player for Republic City High School hoping to turn her athletic gifts into a shot at a college scholarship, unfortunately for her calculus has decided put those dreams on life support.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Thanks for checking for my story guys. This is first bit of writing I've ever put out publicly so any advice, comments, ideas you guys have for it I'd love to hear. Anything good or bad will be most welcome. At any rate, I got the next two weeks or so free so updates should be coming out very quickly. A quick shout out as well to The Republic City Miracle by Attropus, Forbidden Love by dwaaaaaatt and Sato, Number 22, Shooting Guard by Midori Akiko for doing awesome work and providing a lot of inspiration for me. Check that stuff out. Happy reading!

\- Nach0 Chee5e

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This could not be happening, her life was over. Korra glared at the math test in her hands, hoping that perhaps if she stared long enough it might erupt into flames and cease to have ever existed in the first place. "How could I do so poorly?" She lamented to herself. She didn't want to believe it but there it was staring her right in the face, a giant 40% written in bold red letters with a note to see her teacher after class.

She had needed to do well on this test to keep her calculus grade above failing; if she failed the class then she'd get taken off the softball team. That could not happen, she had spent far too many hours working on her fielding, learning plate discipline, and building her strength in the weight room to get kicked off the team now. All the college scouts were coming to their the conference final game in two weeks, Korra knew if she played well she could snag a scholarship to play in college, and with her family's financial situation that was going to absolutely necessary.

Inevitably the school bell rung, signaling the end of the period and her impending judgment day. She shuffled her papers and pencils, taking as long to pack up as she could, hoping if she delayed long enough maybe her worst fears wouldn't come to pass. Alas, she had got everything into her bag and the class had emptied out, her teacher Mrs. Clark sat at her desk and waited for Korra to join her. "For whom the bell tolls I suppose." Korra muttered to herself as she trudged up to the front desk.

"So, I assume you know what this score means concerning your grade in this class." Mrs. Clark began. "I'm afraid as it stands now, you will not be able to receive a passing grade in my course."

"Please, Mrs. Clark, there has to be something I can do! I studied as hard as I could for this, as hard as I've studied for anything, ever. I can't fail calculus, it will ruin everything." Korra pleaded with her teacher, her emotions threatening to bubble out of control. She felt tears beginning to well up in her eyes and she fought to keep them at bay.

Mrs. Clark appraised the girl in front of her with sympathy, she knew what this grade would do to her athletic opportunities, and she also knew that those opportunities were her only hope of getting into a college. She had to admit that over past week she had seen Korra hard at work after class in the library several times with her calculus book, trying to learn the material. She'd never seen that before. "I really am sorry Korra, but my hands are tied here. I can't pass you just because of your athletics. I need to know that you understand the material, and as of now I just can't justify that."

Korra hung her head in shame; she couldn't hold back the tears any longer as they began to stream down her face. She turned toward the door, and while fighting back full sobs she sprinted to get out of the room to avoid embarrassing herself further. As she reached the door at full speed something unexpected happened. As her hand came within inches of the door knob it suddenly opened. Caught off guard Korra was unable to stop or change directions. Instead she crashed headfirst into the girl who had opened the door from the other side. They collided and went tumbling out into the hallway, Korra's bag sailed across the hallway and into the lockers on the far side, and she landed flat out on top of the other girl.

It took a few seconds for what just occurred to register in her head but as soon as it did, Korra sprung up unto her feet with cat like grace and extend a hand down to the girl whom she had bowled over with the intent of apologizing and making sure she was ok. As soon as her eyes made contact however her breath hitched and her condolences died on her lips. She had become lost in the most stunning pair of green eyes she had ever seen, they seemed to pierce into her very soul and Korra could feel the intelligence radiating from within them. When she finally managed to break herself from the girl's gaze she found herself glancing over the rest of her appearance, taking in the smooth raven locks flowing down her back, her flawless countenance, and the way her impeccable outfit highlighted how extremely attractive the girl was. Her eyes made their way back to the women's face where she the look of shock that had been apparently earlier was now replaced with a smirk on her lips, laughter in her eyes, and an aura of sincere confidence. "So, were you planning on helping me up or just stand there staring with a slack jaw for a while longer?"

It was only then that Korra noticed that the girl had already reached up and gasped her outreached hand. She laid there waiting for Korra to help her up as she had gawked at her. Korra felt a blush becoming apparent across her face as she stumbled over her words with embarrassment as she pulled the girl up. "I'm so sorry, I didn't see you, and I was running, and there was a door, and I couldn't stop, and you were right there, just sorry."

The girl who was now revealed to stand a few inches taller than Korra chuckled at the athlete's poor attempt at excusing herself. "Don't worry about it, its alright. That adorable ramble more than makes up for it." The girl stated winking at Korra as she straightened her somewhat disheveled clothing.

The formerly slowly growing blush now exploded across Korra's face. "I, I gotta go." Korra hurriedly squeaked out at the now grinning girl and sprinted down the hall and out the front doors of the school building. "What the hell just happened?"


	2. Chapter 2

"You really think you're going to get kicked off the team for this?" Korra looked down sadly in response to the question from her good friend and perhaps now former teammate Opal.

"Probably, I mean the district rules are pretty clear of the subject. You can't be on a sports team if you fail a class. I don't think I'm going to be able to wiggle my way out of this one." By now the two girls had arrived at the restaurant known as Narook's, a favorite of the whole gangs to meet up with their group of friends. When they arrived they saw two of their fellow teammates Jinora and Kuveria as well as Opal's boyfriend Bolin and his older brother Mako. Before they even got to the table that awaited them Bolin had jumped up from his seat and rushed over. He gripped Korra's shoulders with perhaps a little more force than was really necessary and shook her a little as he spoke.

"Korra, this is so not cool, this whole softball thing. Opal just texted me the whole story, I want you to know that if there's anything I can do just let me know and I'm on it." In response to Bolin's outpouring of support Korra turned to Opal who still stood next to her already sporting a bemused smile at Bolin's antics.

"Really Opal? I just told you that, what? 30 seconds ago and they've already heard?"

"It was big news, Korra. I had to let them know as soon as you told me."

"We were literally just outside the door. Were you typing to Bolin as I was talking to you?"

"She's actually pretty good at that." Bolin interjected between the two. Earning a quick glare from his girlfriend. "But, I mean she was totally just trying to help." He added quickly, hoping to stay on Opal's good side.

Korra sighed dejectedly, "Its fine Bolin, thanks for the show of support but I don't think you're going to be able to do much. I really don't think there's much anyone will be able to do to for me. As soon as Mrs. Clark lets coach know about my grade there's no way I'll be able to stay on the team. "The two girls took their seats at the table as Korra finished her remorseful speech.

"You don't think you could get some extra credit or something. I've done that in a couple of my classes before." Jinora piped up from the far side of the table.

"Unfortunately, I don't think so. Mrs. Clark never allows anyone to do extra credit for her classes. Not to mention your extra credit is usually to get your grade from 100 to like 110 or something, I don't think it's quite the same thing as getting extra credit to pass the class outright." Korra responded.

"Maybe if you just explain to her how important the championship game is to both you and the team she'll give you some leniency." Kuveria suggested. "After all you are the best player in the conference, maybe even the state, that's gotta count for something. I mean it's not like you're ever going to use calculus again.

"Somehow I don't think a math teacher is going to share that point of view." Jinora chuckled. "Anyway, can I see the test, Korra? Perhaps I could work through it with you, and then you could go back to Mrs. Clark and show her how much you've learned. Maybe she'll give you some points back or something."

"Yea, about that, I... I don't actually have it."

"What do you mean you don't have it? Did she not give it back to you or something?" Jinora questioned.

"No, she gave it back. I just... forgot it... in the hall."

"What do you mean you forgot it? You never forget anything." Opal stated eyeing her curiously.

"Well, I did ok, there's a first time for everything. So why don't you just lay off with the fifth degree for a second." Korra furiously retorted, eyes darting around the group daring any of them to challenge her on in. The look went unheralded around the table aside from an upturned eyebrow of suspicion from Opal.

"Well, fine, if you say so." Kuveria finally begrudgingly accepted.

"Mako," Korra barked at her friend. "How's the police training going?" Mako was the oldest of the group, and had joined the police academy as soon as he'd finished school. The until then silent man spoke up to begin regaling the table with some of his more unique stories from the academy. Korra breathed a sigh of relief glad that the focus of the table had shifted off of her. That was until she noticed Opal staring at her with an expression that obviously said "This isn't over." A shrug in response prompted Opal to return her attention to Mako's story, and allowed Korra a moment to groan internally. "Great now I'm going to have to tell Opal what happened, figures she'd be the one to see right through me. I guess if I have to tell anyone, I'm glad it's her. Maybe she'll have some advice about what the hell happened. Sure beats trying to figure it out myself."

"So, Korra, you ready to spill your guts?" Korra and Opal had made their way up to Opal's bedroom after she had insisted Korra come over to her place following their gathering at Narook's. And when Opal wanted something she was incredibility insistent about it until she got her way. Normally Korra loved that about her today however, she wasn't so sure.

"Alright fine, what do you want to know?"

"Well, for starters what is this about forgetting your bag in the hall at school? We both

know that would never happen."

"I know it's not like me but in my defense, there were some extraordinary circumstances."

"Yea? Like what?"

"Well, there was this girl, ok?"

"What do mean, like from your class? Or just sitting in the hall?"

"Maybe if you didn't interrupt I'd tell you."

"Sorry, sorry, continue."

"As I was saying, there was this girl. She was coming into Mrs. Clark's right as I was leaving. I was a little upset at the time so I was kind of running towards the door not paying a whole lot of attention to what I was doing. Anyway, I got to the door and right as I reached out to open it this other girl pulled it open from the other side. Long story short I crashed right into her, my bag went flying and we both ended up sprawled up in the hall."

"So, what, you ran off without apologizing or your bag?"

"No, not entirely. I.. I tried to apologize."

"And what, she got mad or something?"

"No, nothing like that. She was perfectly nice, super friendly, it.. it almost felt like she was flirting with me."

"Oookay, and so then you went running?"

"Y… yea. Pretty much. I don't know Opal, she just looked so… and she was so nice… and I… I just didn't know what to do. I guess I just kind of panicked."

"Hahaha, so let me get this straight. You left your bag because this girl was both pretty and nice to you?"

"Ugh, no, there was more to it than that. That way she looked at me Opal, I don't know, I felt so… alive. I've never felt like that before."

"You know guys and some girls I might add look at you like that all the time right?"

"Well, yea, but this just felt different Opal, and well she's a girl Opal, I don't like girls like that."

"Your story seems to imply otherwise."

"Not helping, Opal."

"Sorry, sorry. Well, fine, describe her for me. Give me a mental picture to go off of here."

"Alright, I guess I can do that." Korra took a deep breath to ready herself. "She was a couple inches taller than me. She had beautiful black hair, it was so smoothly and flow-y. Her make-up was crazy good, like a professional had done it or something. She had the most gorgeous green eyes." Korra stopped short due to a sudden burst of giggling from the other teenage in the room.

"What!?"

"Nothing, nothing, I'm just pretty sure this is what you call gushing, Korra."

"I… I am not gushing. I don't even know her."

"Uh huh, whatever you say." Just then Korra's phone began to vibrate. "Damn, it's my parents. I got to head out, sounds like they just got off the phone with coach. I am so dead."


	3. Chapter 3

A/N - I've been blow any with all the support guys, thanks for much for readings, favoriting, following, all that stuff. In response to that I've been adding a lot to my original story idea, I was expecting to only write like 5k or so and I'm almost there and have so much more for the story. Anyway, continue to send me any feedback you guys have for the story, it's always awesome to hear. Thanks a lot guys and happy reading!

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Korra stumbled through the door leading from the garage into her house, cursing softly as she stubbed her toe on the bad containing her catcher gear that was propped up next to the door. "Well, so much for making a subtle entrance." She thought to herself. Stopping for a moment to take off her shoes Korra sadly contemplated the bag of catching gear in light of her current troubles. Her family didn't have a lot of money to throw around, both her parents worked long hours that didn't exactly pay at lofty rates but they always made sure she had everything that she needed, especially the best softball gear they could get. Korra shook her head fondly at the memory of the winter back in the water tribe where their family hailed from where her father tried to teach her dog Naga how to pull a dog sled he found for free to try and win a race for some extra money to send her to a summer softball camp. It ended up going horribly however the head official for the race also happened to be the lead sponsor of the softball camp and was so amused at Korra's father trying to compete in a race where normal competitors had 8 dogs with 1 dog that had offered to let Korra go for free. "And, now I may have blown my opportunity to make all that effort worth it." Korra realized, feeling a tear beginning to form in her eye. She took a deep breath to steady herself then continued into the kitchen where she could hear her parents, conversing while waiting for her.

"Korra, there you are." Her father stated as soon as he saw her move into the room. Korra stopped short of her parents staying on the opposite side of the room.

"So, I suppose you heard from coach about my test." Korra stated numbly. "I guess I really messed up this time."

"Ah, sweetie." Her mother rushed over to Korra and pulled her into her arms and wiped the tear away that had strayed down her face. Korra hadn't even realized that she had stated crying. "We know you tried your best, there's no need to beat yourself up."

"Besides," Korra's father began from with a smirk on his face. "We don't give up that easy."

"What do you mean?" Korra looked at her father not daring to put too much hope into his words. "What else could we do?"

"Well, we talked to Coach Lin and while you cannot stay on the team if you have a failing grade in a class. In turns out there might be an opportunity for you to knock that grade in time for the championship game." Her father's smirk had now turned into a full smile seeing the effect his words were having on his daughter.

"I... I mean that sounds amazing. But how am I going to be able to raise my grade? All the scores are in and Mrs. Clark never gives out extra credit."

"Well it turns out a former student happen to stop into Mrs. Clark's class today. She was a student of hers back when she used to go to Republic City High School and is now at Republic City University. Apparently she's some kind of engineering prodigy and she's just started up work on an apparently revolutionary idea at the university. She was looking for someone to give her some part-time help. She requested you, by name it appears."

"Why would she do that?" Korra questioned. "Obviously I'm no math superstar, not to mention how would she even know my name? I don't know anyone who goes to RCU."

"I'm not sure, but regardless, all that matters is she did and Mrs. Clark agreed that if you work with her and help her for a couple hours a week she'll let you retake the final exam in two weeks. If you do better on it then she'll take that for your final grade. I figure between spending time with a genius like this girl is and getting another couple weeks to study you should have a good chance to pass the class." For the first time since she got her test back that afternoon Korra felt excitement and hope burst back into her consciousness.

"Mom, Dad, this is so amazing." Korra threw her arms up around both her parents, no longer able to contain herself. "I've got to go let everybody know the news." Korra took off for her room to IM the rest of the crew.

"Sounds good, honey." Her mom chuckled at her daughter's antics. "She'll pick you tomorrow after your morning practice; she also sent you an email of some basics on the project to know for tomorrow."

"Guys, you'll never believe had just happened!" Korra's computer pinged as she sent out an IM to group of friends. She quickly began to pull up her email as she waited for her friends to see her message.

"What?" Figures Opal would be the first to respond. She always was.

"My parents just got off the phone with coach. Mrs. Clark is going to let me retake the final. I'll get another chance to pass the class." She excitedly typed into her laptop.

"I thought you said Mrs. Clark never gives any leeway." Jinora chimed into the conversation. Korra could almost feel the self-satisfied smirk she knew Jinora was sporting through the screen. "What's the catch?"

"I've never hear of her doing it before. And, there is a catch. Apparently she had some former uber student of hers come visit today. She goes to the 'U' now. She was looking for some help with a project she's working on now I guess. Supposedly she asked for me by name. I have no idea why but I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth you know."

"So you help this chick out for a couple weeks, ace your test retake, and you're good to go for the championship?" Bolin asked.

"Haha, I appreciate the confidence on the test but yea it looks like it."

"Good, I'd hate to have to take over your captaincy in your absence and have everybody forget about you." Kuveria joined in.

Korra shook her head in response. "No chance, Kuv." Kuveria certainly knew how to push her buttons, though she knew how to push Kuveria's as well. Korra supposed that wasn't the worst thing, kept them on their toes. "At any rate I've got to look through the basics of the project she sent me, supposedly we're going to get to work on it tomorrow after practice."

"What? Korra? Studying on a Friday night? Are you feeling ok, should I alert the media?"

"Oh, shut it, Kuv. I'll see you guys tomorrow." Korra signed off before she could get goaded into another back and forth match with her good natured rival and turned her attention to the email over the project. As she paged through the introduction a familiar feeling of dread returned to the pit of her stomach. This stuff was way over her head; she barely understood any of it. Maybe this whole plan wouldn't go quite as smoothly as she had jumped to.


	4. Chapter 4

Bzzz... Bzzz... Bzz…

Korra slammed her fist down on the snooze button for seemed like the millionth time the next morning. "I'll get up next time it rings." She sleepily decided.

"Korra honey, you're going to be late for practice." Her mother sweetly warned her as she passed by her daughter's door. Korra responded by blearily opening her eyes and glared at her alarm clock. Her mother was right of course, she was already down to only 30 minutes before she had to arrive at softball practice.

"Mornings are evil." Korra growled as she threw off the animal pelt she covered herself with as she slept and rose from her bed. Bolting down the stairs after throwing on some clothes Korra entered the kitchen looking for something quick to grab on her way out the door. The cupboards were pretty bare, which she was pretty used too so she just grabbed a couple slices of bread, toasted it, and headed out the door. Stepping out the door Korra could feel the heat of the day on her body and became noticeably invigorated by the bright sunlight of the early morning. While most her teammates warmed up after arriving at the practice fields, Korra lived close enough that she typically chose to simply run the couple of miles between her house and the fields to do the job. It got her dreaded cardio out of the way, not to mention it allowed her sleep in a few extra minutes which she was always a fan of.

A few minutes later Korra arrived at the softball fields. Appraising the grounds she saw pretty much the entire team scattered around the area, most in groups conversing as they stretched, tossed balls between each other, or otherwise getting ready for practice. Just as she dropped her bag in the dugout, Coach Lin called the team to the infield to get things going. The championship game was still two weeks out so the plan of the day wasn't too intensive, mostly some defensive drills for the fielders and some pitching for the rotation. They divided out into their respective position groups with the outfielders heading out to work on fly balls, infielders went to work on grounders, and Korra as the team's catcher went with the pitchers.

After throwing on her gear Korra settled behind home plate waited resting her weight on her knees as she waited for coach to finish relying her instructions of what she wanted the pitchers to work on. She rested her protective catching mask on the top of her head as she surveyed her various teammates and friends for working on their skills. Korra loved sitting behind the plate, it let her see where everyone was, what everyone was doing, it was certainly felt like her home on the field. She took pride in her ability to shift the defense when necessary, keep her pitching staff on point, not to mention the fact that everybody in their league knew to never try and steal a base on her. She took a moment to flex her muscled right arm, "Nobody outruns my guns." She grinned to herself picturing in her mind the last time somebody made the attempt. She had them out by a good 10 to 15 feet at second base.

"Hey Narcissus, you ready down there or would you like us to wait while you admire yourself some more?" Opal taunted her from the mound. Korra smirked as she pulled her mask back down over her face and got back up into catching position.

"Well, when you're as good as I am you gotta take a moment and let it all soak it every once in a while." Korra retorted as she held her mitt at the bottom right hand corner of the imaginary strike zone she had decided on. Opal rifled her first pitch perfectly into Korra's waiting glove.

Korra slipped on a batting helmet and tightened up her batting gloves as she grabbed her favorite bat and stepped into the batter's box. Practice had finished up a little early and Korra was eager to get a few swings in before she had to meet with her mystery calculus savior. While Korra loved being the catcher, or on field manager as she liked to describe herself is year's pitching staff could be a little trying. Opal was the only returning starter in the group, that meant that the rest of the crew tended to be fairly inconsistent with their delivery. They all had great stuff, and Coach Lin being a former pitching prodigy herself had a history of bringing out the best in her players, despite this it was still very much a case of the team having an ace in Opal, and a merely standard supporting cast. That added up to a lot of extra work for Korra, keeping the girls under control and finding opportunities to bring the best out of them. Thus, Korra had to spend the entire day working behind the plate and had yet to get into the box and let er' rip.

"Alright, Opal, give me your best shot." Korra called out to the waiting girl. She received a nod in return. Opal went into her windup and threw a sharp fastball that hung in the middle right side of the plate. Korra's lips twitched into a small smile as she watched the ball glide towards her. Korra swung into the pitch smoothly opening her hips in anticipation of pulling the ball towards the left side of the outfield, she made contact with the sweet spot on her bat and barely noticing the impact between the ball and bat. The ball soared into the air and sailed effortlessly over the outfield fence, coming down a good 50 feet beyond the fence. The small smile that had formerly graced Korra's face had since grown into a full on grin, "I thought you were supposed to be good at this." She shouted out to the mound. Opal shook her head ruefully at her friend and speaking as a pitcher, worst nightmare.

A few minutes later with balls now strew around the outfield, and more than a couple over the outfield fences Korra paused at the plate to give Opal a moment to grab another bucket of balls to keep the session going. She rested her bat on her shoulder momentarily and allowed her gaze to shift from Opal out passed the field to the high school and parking lot that resided beyond. It was then that she saw her, the girl that she had run into outside Mrs. Clark's class yesterday after school. She was in the parking lot, casually resting on the hood of what Korra could only assume was a really really nice sports car. It was all black with red accents around the vehicle. She was lying back on the hood, one leg casually crossed over the other bouncing in time with some unheard tune. She was propped up on her elbows, her hair lightly feathered through the calm breeze, and her eyes were covered by a stylish pair of black sunglasses. The whole thing seemed much more at home on a magazine cover rather than her school's parking lot. There was a bag sitting on the ground resting against the girl's front bumper, It looked incredibly familiar to Korra but she wasn't entirely sure why. Then it hit her, it was her own backpack, the girl was have grabbed it after Korra had left it in the hall yesterday. "That must be why she's here" she thought, at least until the softball flew by inches in front of her face. Startled, Korra flinched as she took a step back and glared at Opal.

"What?" Opal shrugged, "I thought you were supposed to be good at this."

After finishing up the second set of balls with Opal Korra called it quits. She thanked Opal for the pitches and reminded her that she had to get work on her calculus project. She waved goodbye to Opal walked over to the girl apparently waiting for her in the parking lot. As she passed through the dugout with her bag and approached the car see saw that the girl turned her attention to her and a smile began in form on the corner of her lips. Korra faltered for a moment as butterflies exploded within the pit of her stomach. She shook her head to try and clear the feeling and stepped up to the girl. "Fancy running into you here."

The girl slid off the hood of the convertible. "I believe we did that last time," The she giggled, "but I'm appreciative of the face to face treatment this time. My name is Asami by the way." She offered her hand to Korra to shake.

"Yeah, sorry again about that, I swear I'm not usually that clumsy." Korra took the offered hand. "Nice to actually meet you. I'd tell you name is Korra, but I assume you already found that out." She nodded towards her backpack next to Asami's feet.

"You're right," Asami acknowledged as she handed Korra her bag, "I guess we're both lucky you left it."

"What do you mean?" Korra asked puzzled.

"Well, If you didn't I wouldn't have known your name to ask Mrs. Clark about you."

"Wait, you mean you're the college chick? The one who I'm supposed to be helping with the project?"

"The one and only. You ready to get to work?"

"Yeah, definitely."

"Good, let's get going then." Asami turned to walk over the driver's side door. "Oh, and Korra? Korra turned to face her apparent savior. Asami flipped her raven locks over shoulder and Korra could feel her breath hitch in her chest. "You were looking good out there," said a winking Asami, "real good."


	5. Update

Hey guys, sorry about the extended time since the last update. I kind of fell into a rut with this story, lost direction and unfortunately at least for now I'm putting it on hiatus. I'd love to return to it at some point, but I want to make sure I have a decent vision of where I want it to go before I do. Thanks a lot for all the support and reviews. I should be starting up a new story that's been kicking around in my head for the last week or so pretty soon so stay tuned for that if you're interested, otherwise thanks for reading my half-written tale and good day.


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